China’s standing in the Asia-Pacific has been damaged by its decision to stick with Covid Zero for most of 2022, leaving the US to cement its position as the most influential power in the region, according to an Australian research group.
After floating over the US for days, a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon has been shot down. But aftershocks from the saga continue to reverberate, with planned talks for the nations’ top diplomats derailed and new tensions injected into the already-strained relations between the world’s two largest economies.
The US and Brazil, two of the world’s largest biofuels markets, are joining an India-led initiative that will aim to boost demand for the lower-emissions energy source.
Standard Chartered Plc. has stopped accepting bonds of Adani Group firms as collateral on margin loans, ET Now television channel reported, without saying where it got the information.
The UK Treasury is exploring a significant increase in the bonds it sells to retail investors, a move that analysts say may draw in as much as £70 billion ($85.8 billion) for financing deficits in the coming years.
South African Deputy President David Mabuza resigned, clearing the way for Paul Mashatile, the new deputy leader of the governing African National Congress, to succeed him.
Conditions in Egypt’s non-oil economy deteriorated sharply in January as a steep devaluation of the pound heaped more price pressures on businesses, prompting them to trim activity, buying and jobs.
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister reiterated that the kingdom will remain cautious about raising oil production, even as several prominent analysts say rising demand will soon cause prices to rise beyond $100 a barrel.
All it took was a strong US jobs report to expose the fragility of last week’s bond rally in Europe.
